★★★★☆ Where Peter Pan and Tiger Lilly come from

Tigerlilja

Erin Michelle Sky, Steven Brown

In J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan Peter's great ally is Tiger Lily, who is introduced thus

...Tiger Lily, proudly erect, a princess in her own right. She is the most beautiful of dusky Dianas and the belle of the Piccaninnies, coquettish, cold and amorous by turns; there is not a brave who would not have the wayward thing to wife, but she staves off the altar with a hatchet.

There's obviously a lot there that's problematic in the 21st century. So she gets a rewrite in this Erin Michelle Sky and Steven Brown prequel to Tales of the Wendy. In addition, we get an origin story for Peter, something that to my knowledge Barrie never supplied.

In fact, we start with Peter. Peter, it transpires, is descended from gods. Sky and Brown freely mix Norse and Greek gods here. In seeking to protect him from ancestral enemy Buri, Peter's mother accidentally curses him.

You will forget anything that ever has, or ever will bring you grief.

Instead of a "redskin," as Barrie's Tiger Lily was, Sky and Brown's Tigerlilja is a member of a Norse warband. Tigerlilja and her band get involved in a fight between Buri and Peter, and the rest is history...

If you like Tales of the Wendy, you probably want to read this prequel.

Tigerlilja on Amazon

Goodreads review

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